Take control of your digital governance

Ash says: “Digital governance is lacking in most web-enabled businesses, at least in a formal sense.

Although websites have been around for 20 years or more, their execution tends to be ad hoc, ultimately resulting in a less-than-ideal outcome for the business.

‘Digital’ is a loose term that people use when they think of computers. In the context of governance, it covers websites, social media platforms, our software if we make software, and apps for mobile phones and tablets if we make apps. The definition tends to vary a little. It usually implies the internet; it doesn’t have to, but it usually does.”

What is the digital governance set-up in most organisations at the moment?

“There’s definitely governance present in most large companies, but their definition of governance tends to be in the traditional form of ESG, which is Environmental, Social, and Governance.

These are all the good things that companies want to be known for – as being good corporate citizens – but they are essentially ways to make sure that they don’t fail in their business and give themselves a bad name. That’s roughly what’s happening in a governance sense.

I want to zoom in on digital governance, which is a subset of it, and possibly a neglected part of it.”

Are many organisations not taking digital governance seriously?

“I suspect that they’re not aware that they’re not taking it seriously. When you look at websites, they were typically started by someone who was enthusiastic about the topic maybe 20 years ago, and over the years they realised that they needed to smarten up and hire the right people.

Sometimes, the issue is that they think they’ve hired the right people, and the people whom they’ve hired think that they’re doing the right things, but when you look at one company and compare it with another, you might find that they are doing things differently.

This is where a formal system of digital governance can help to tidy up the mess that upper management is not really aware of.”

What are the key elements of successful digital governance?

“There are three high-level elements: the first is organisation policies, the second is reference standards, and the third is processes and procedures.

Organisation policies, in the context of digital governance, include website-related policies plus broader company-wide policies. For example, the company might have an accessibility policy that applies to its physical premises, its mobile apps, and its websites. It might also have a policy about inclusive language, corporate tone of voice, or how often content should be updated. These are examples of organisation policies.

Website-related reference standards can be a variety of different things, but primarily they are the W3C standards, which are the most important. That’s the World Wide Web Consortium. It develops standards for HTML, accessibility, internationalisation, privacy, security, etc. Every website should make sure that it’s following these standards as best as it can.

Accessibility is a subset of the W3C standards. For this, you can refer to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), and these documents explain how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities.

Privacy standards tend to be country-based or, in the case of Europe, EU-based. They include personal privacy and data.

There are a lot of different security standards, and the goal of information security standards is to reduce cyber-attacks. They include software, technology, and processes – and there are many other technical standards beyond the scope of this conversation. However, many cover the web technology necessary for websites to function.”

What are some key first steps that organisations should prioritise to improve digital governance?

“The first thing the company needs to do is recognise that it needs a governance framework and begin from there.

You might want to focus on three core elements of this governance: the first element being SEO, AI, and content governance, the second being technical governance, and the third being the leadership that oversees all of this.

It can depend on the company in question, but one possible framework could be a governance committee consisting of representatives from legal, risk, data science, network engineering, content, information management, privacy, ethics, social responsibility, and (last but not least) the SEO team.

Now, these are middle managers who are accountable for these areas, and they can speak for the company on those topics. They’re not C-suite members.

Ideally, they should meet when required. I don’t believe in having fixed monthly meetings because sometimes there is nothing to discuss and sometimes you need to meet every week. They should meet as often as required.

That meeting doesn’t have to be a formal set-up with people on a conference screen or in person in a boardroom. A lot of these deliberations can be done by email, as long as the discussions are recorded. I don’t advise using instant messaging platforms because those conversations are hard to find, and they can be erased because someone didn’t know that an important conversation was happening in that Slack channel.”

Can a company follow a standard template for their governance framework or does each organisation need to create something bespoke?

“There are many consultants who have their own frameworks and, from a quick comparison, I found that definitions differ between consultants.

I suspect that a bespoke formula will be found for every individual company. That’s because some of those hats can be worn by the same person – so legal might also look after risk, for example – if it’s a medium-sized company.”

Is there a particular job role that needs to take ownership of this?

“Because it’s a committee, the C-suite needs to appoint a committee chairman. How they do that will depend on the dynamics of that particular company.

Usually, there is a champion who emerges – and that champion may come from any of these areas. Personally, I’d like to see the SEO team being the champion because they’re aware of the web implications of content, especially with AI in focus now.

Although lots of experts have suddenly emerged to advise companies about AI, they may not necessarily be thinking about the issues that we see from the SEO lens.”

How does this impact hiring, training, and workflow?

“From a governance angle, that framework needs to make sure that the hiring process is in tune with the business’ values. For example, ethics is important. Therefore, the hiring process should make sure that whoever is hired is not going to mislead customers or cheat them, which might be a tactic used by aggressive salespeople.

Hiring needs to be controlled at a policy level. The details of who they select and the selection criteria they use should be left to the individual teams. Those would be rather technical and would not be the concern of the governance committee.”

Does this digital governance process have any positive measurable impact on SEO?

“The impact on SEO is not a number that can be looked up with a tool. The benefits would be a sense of professional happiness: Everything seems to be working. Everyone is happy. The numbers are moving in the right direction.

That can be for many reasons, but these things happen if there are no blockages. Good governance makes sure that there are no blockages from a policy perspective. If anything does go wrong, it might be a technical decision that someone made, but there is definitely not a policy issue that stopped two teams from working together, for example.”

If an SEO is struggling for time, what should they stop doing right now so they can spend more time doing what you suggest in 2025?

“Do a quick audit, even if it’s not a formal audit. Simply examine the company and look for any blockages that suggest a lack of governance or a lack of awareness.

Then, start the conversation with someone in the C-suite to talk about the benefits of digital governance. Once you get them on board, you can suggest that content would be a good place to start, because content doesn’t usually require investment in technology or hiring experts.

Usually, the C-suite will come on board – especially if you can explain why content is really important in the world of generative AI. Then, you can get the support of management.”

Ash Nallawalla is a Consultant at CRM911 Digital, and you can find him over at CRM911.com.